Ecuadorean Airline TAME Resumes Flights to Venezuela

Ecuadorean airline TAME resumed flights to Venezuela following an agreement under which the Venezuelan central bank will release funds owed to the company, a company official said.

TAME halted flights on Thursday to demand that Venezuela release $43 million in ticket sales that it had not been able to obtain because of delays in an 11-year-old currency control system.

"Yes, flights resumed today, there has been an agreement reached between the central banks (of the two countries)," said TAME's manager, Fernando Guerrero, in a phone interview.

He declined to provide additional details about the agreement. But he said the tickets for the Quito-Caracas route were only being sold in Ecuador and Colombia.

TAME since 2012 has operated daily flights between Venezuela and Ecuador with a layover in Bogota.

A wide range of industries in Venezuela say they are waiting for the currency control authorities to disburse billions of dollars in hard currency. Airlines say they are owed a total of about $3.3 billion.

Source: eturbonews.com